February 07, 2004

When Gay Animals Attack

Interesting NY Times story:

Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, are completely devoted to each other. For nearly six years now, they have been inseparable. They exhibit what in penguin parlance is called "ecstatic behavior": that is, they entwine their necks, they vocalize to each other, they have sex. Silo and Roy are, to anthropomorphize a bit, gay penguins. When offered female companionship, they have adamantly refused it. And the females aren't interested in them, either.
What implications does this have for humans? None:
Infanticide is widespread in the animal kingdom. To jump from that to say it is desirable makes no sense. We shouldn't be using animals to craft moral and social policies for the kinds of human societies we want to live in.


Written by David at February 7, 2004 11:17 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Excellent point!

That argument should not be made, however, to ignore the physiological, nonvolitional causes of homosexuality that the case may illustrate.

Posted by: Trey Givens at February 10, 2004 05:47 PM
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